Science for EU policy
Strategically placed between the scientific and policy spheres, the JRC reinforces evidence-based approaches in EU policymaking.
We provide data, facts and evidence for sound and robust policy-making. EU policies ensure that every citizen in Europe can benefit from similar standards for a healthy and safe environment, secure energy supplies, sustainable mobility and consumer health and safety.
By working together with EU policy makers, JRC scientists are able to identify problems, study them, elaborate solutions, perform impact assessments on policy options and monitor progress when policies are implemented.
The policy cycle is made up of six stages and science serves every step in a different way. The understanding of when and how to intervene with scientific results in the policy making process is fundamental for an effective uptake of science in policy-making. Clarity and timeliness of the communication from scientists to policy makers and vice versa are equally key for a successful interaction.
Multi-disciplinary research
EU policies address complex challenges that often have interconnected environmental, technological, economical and social dimensions. The research underpining it must grasp these intricate relationships and consider all relevant factors.
Doctoral projects at the JRC are embedded in our culture of multi-disciplinary research and cut across different topics such as the environment, health, safety and security, energy, transport and the economy. The JRC is home to more than 60 specialised laboratories and unique research facilities to this end.
International network
The JRC premises are split across five different sites with headquarters in Brussels. The biggest site is located in Ispra, in the North of Italy, with more than 1 400 staff members. The other sites are located in Karlsruhe (Germany), Geel (Belgium), Petten (Netherlands) and Seville (Spain). All CDP doctoral candidates will spend 12 to 24 months of their PhD at one of the JRC campuses and the remaining time at their home university.
The CDP community is a hybrid community of doctoral candidates and their supervisors based in institutions spread across Europe. The CDP community is one of the many networks PhD students gain access to and serves as a platform to propel their future careers.
Dual supervisorship and employment
CDP PhD candidates are supervised by two Principal Investigators (PI): one from the HEI or university and one from the JRC. Each supervisor will support and enrich the PhD project from different perspectives.
The PhD researcher will equally work under two separate employment contracts: one from their HEI or university for the time they spend there and one from the JRC for the time they work on a JRC campus. Whilst at the JRC, the PhD researcher will work under a 'Grantholder 20 contract'.